I knew nothing of the NYC garment industry prior to seeing this film, but it was wonderful to see it just for this historical footage from so long ago.
But beyond that, the film covers an issue that hits very close to home to many people in many industries and professions across the USA and Canada. Both are rich nations whose residents refuse to pay their neighbour a reasonable price. Who doesn't know someone, or who hasn't experienced, losing a job to cheap foreign outsourcing? In my profession, this is happening in middle-management as well. It is only a matter of time before it all goes.
Blame is properly placed on both Republicans (Reagan) and Democrats (Kennedy, Clinton). Shame on them all, for selling out the future of the USA, and leaving it held hostage to the cheapest and most immorally-run labour markets on the planet. One character tries to justify it as "helping them", as if that's actually the reason he chose sweatshop labour.
This one industry is particularly illustrative of how the transition from craftsmanship to marketing and then to entertainment has tricked the gullible into imagining themselves rich and secure in a country that has exported only its worst practices, along with its means of production -- first the jobs, and then the very machines (same thing happened in Canada ... you'd have a hard time even finding certain machines used in the garment industry any more -- and does anyone know how to make a new one?).
This film shines a bright light on a great crime that has been allowed to happen to the American Dream, and that we have all lazily permitted, based on our prejudices that we're simply innately superior to the rest of the world. It's of course ridiculous. What made us better was the society and the laws that we chose for ourselves. And we tore them down. Our children are never going to forgive us for throwing it all away because we were too selfish to care.
I wish the film had gone a little further into proposed solutions, or revivals. I also wish it had compared what happened in NYC with perhaps some other similar regions in the world. Have any been able to maintain a robust domestic garment industry after 2005?
But beyond that, the film covers an issue that hits very close to home to many people in many industries and professions across the USA and Canada. Both are rich nations whose residents refuse to pay their neighbour a reasonable price. Who doesn't know someone, or who hasn't experienced, losing a job to cheap foreign outsourcing? In my profession, this is happening in middle-management as well. It is only a matter of time before it all goes.
Blame is properly placed on both Republicans (Reagan) and Democrats (Kennedy, Clinton). Shame on them all, for selling out the future of the USA, and leaving it held hostage to the cheapest and most immorally-run labour markets on the planet. One character tries to justify it as "helping them", as if that's actually the reason he chose sweatshop labour.
This one industry is particularly illustrative of how the transition from craftsmanship to marketing and then to entertainment has tricked the gullible into imagining themselves rich and secure in a country that has exported only its worst practices, along with its means of production -- first the jobs, and then the very machines (same thing happened in Canada ... you'd have a hard time even finding certain machines used in the garment industry any more -- and does anyone know how to make a new one?).
This film shines a bright light on a great crime that has been allowed to happen to the American Dream, and that we have all lazily permitted, based on our prejudices that we're simply innately superior to the rest of the world. It's of course ridiculous. What made us better was the society and the laws that we chose for ourselves. And we tore them down. Our children are never going to forgive us for throwing it all away because we were too selfish to care.
I wish the film had gone a little further into proposed solutions, or revivals. I also wish it had compared what happened in NYC with perhaps some other similar regions in the world. Have any been able to maintain a robust domestic garment industry after 2005?